The news comes a week after IT corporations including Apple, Microsoft and Adobe were summoned to appear before a parliamentary inquiry investigating why Australians pay so much more for the same software sold elsewhere http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/tech-giants-to-face-it-gouging-probe-20130211-2e80e.html. The deputy chair of the inquiry, Paul Neville, wouldn't be drawn on whether pricing discrepancies which appeared between the US and Australian Commodore models would be grounds for a similar investigation.

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But an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission spokesperson said that Holden was in no way flouting local pricing laws by reducing the US variant’s cost.

But an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission spokesperson said that Holden was in no way flouting local pricing laws by reducing the US variant’s cost.

‘‘Businesses are free to set their own prices as long as they do so independent of their competitors and in a way that does not mislead or deceive consumers,’’ the spokesperson said.

‘‘Businesses sometimes use lower prices to promote their products, attract customers, and grow their market share. This kind of differential pricing does not by itself raise concerns under the Competition and Consumer Act.

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‘‘Australian Consumer Law concerns will arise where a business provides false or misleading information about the reasons for the differential pricing of their products.’’

A spokesman for Holden, Craig Cheetham, refused to speculate over pricing of the Commodore in the US or Australia, where it will be released in June.

A current VE Commodore SS-V costs $55,290 plus on-road costs, and Holden has previously hinted that prices of some VF Commodore variants will increase slightly - but not much.

Cheetham said Holden was in the process of evaluating pricing in either market.

‘‘We don’t have any specific pricing plans to announce at this stage, nor will we be announcing them for at least the next 12 weeks,’’ he said.

‘‘Whenever you sell a car in any market, you price it in accordance with the markets in which you sell it. That takes into account all sorts of local costs, including taxes, delivery charges and also assessment of the market into which it’s selling.

‘‘Obviously to make the export campaign viable, we obviously have to sell the car at a price where people will buy it and that’s certainly what we’ll look to do.’’

Holden has been vocal about the difficulties of exporting cars with the Australian dollar at record highs, using the currency strength as justification for recent job cuts and slowing sales.

Holden last year secured $275 million in government funding in return for a commitment to invest at least $1 billion in local manufacturing until at least 2022.

‘‘We’ve never said exactly how many we’re taking over there but ... the business case has been built roughly around [5000 sales a year],’’ Cheetham said.

‘‘We would obviously be very excited if we were to get to a higher number than that. We’re not going to say at this stage ‘yes we are’, but it’s been a good start [to Nascar] and obviously we’re very optimistic about what that means.’’